An English classic
If you’ve always wanted to read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, but have found it too difficult, you might like to give this simplified version (link to:ego4u.com) a try.
I’m dreaming of …
Here’s part of the text to a well-known Christmas song:
“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the tree tops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow.”
Irving Berlin
And here’s the song (link to: YouTube). (I love this version!)
Ready for some Christmas baking?
British etiquette expert, William Hanson, shows us in this short video how to eat mince pies. Something that was new to me. You eat them with your left hand!
A mince pie is a small pie filled with mincemeat and fruit that is traditionally served during the Christmas season in the English-speaking world. If you want to make them yourself, try this recipe I found on the BBC website here.
I’ve never made them myself, because I don’t like them. It’s the suet in the filling I don’t like! The very thought of the suet makes me shudder!
suet = Rindertalg
You mean Jingle Bells?
What is a lion’s favourite Christmas carol?
Carol = a song sung during the Christmas season
Answer: Jungle Bells.
Memorising numbers
In this video, Ron White tells us how he memorises numbers (link to: YouTube.com). He explains how he uses pictures and then shows us how he ties everything together. It looks so easy, doesn’t it?
I’m sure we could all improve our memories. We just need to train them more!
A happy occasion?
In Germany, “runde Geburtstage” are special. They are those birthdays that end with a “zero” – like 30, 40, 50, 60 etc. Leo.org calls them “big birthdays” or “significant birthdays”. I’ve also heard the term “milestone birthdays” before. But not in England, strangely enough.
I quite like to call them “important” or “special birthdays”. But then I wonder, aren’t all birthdays important and special?
In German, we even have a verb for these birthdays. It’s “nullen” which literally means “to zero”. Thanks, Deutsche Welle, for reminding me.
